Art by Donato Giancola; Source
December 16th gave us the second Pauper Challenge of the Ultimate Masters season. Stompy won the day in the extremely capable hands of _Dissonance_. The most notable thing about the victory was not that Stompy won but rather that the long time Stompy grinder had not moved away from Elephant Guide and towards Wild Mongrel. Over the past few weeks this change back to the Savage [D]astard himself has been a refreshing innovation in the green deck's composition. Mongrel has the ability to win games on its own and with the relative dearth of Chainer's Edict effects, Elephant Guide makes less sense. Still, being able to go toe-to-toe with Gurmag Angler has its advantages.
On that note, let's get to the rest of the results. Dimir Delver had a fantastic day with three different pilots making the Top 8. Nine of the 13 decks that made the Top 32 did so with winning records and the deck held the lone 6-0 at the end of the Swiss rounds.
Numbers like this are reminiscent of the early stage domination of Izzet Delver.
I do think that Dimir Delver is a fantastic deck but it is likely not as good as these results seem to indicate. Rather the format is going to take time to adjust, specifically to Gurmag Angler in concert with Foil. Journey to Nowhere used to be the full stop answer to Angler. Now that Foil is in the picture, the opportunity to present Angler with multiple pieces of protection is far more likely and can render Journey less effective.
What is the answer? I am not sure. In order to operate around countermagic it appears as if instants are best positioned to fight Dimir Delver. Cards like Vapor Snag are not permanent answers but they can help buy time. The issue is that no matter what you are spending to take down Angler you are likely trading down in mana thanks to Delve. Gurmag Angler might be the best it has ever been right now.
This chart is, in part, why I am not sounding the alarm on Dimir Delver just yet. While it has been far and away the most popular deck thus far in the short season, it is performing beneath its Top 8 expectation. I would not put too much stock in this until we get four Challenges in, especially given its volume, but we can see that Boros Tokens and monarch are both performing above expectation. Given the strength of Dimir Delver that should be noted. Let us also press 'f' for our currently fallen comrade in Izzet Delver. You had a fantastic 21 month run.
The elephant in the room for the next month will be Gush. January 21st signals the next update to the Banned list. While Foil is the new kid on the block, Gush is one reason why the pitch counter is so strong. Gush helps to mitigate the drawback while also being the backbone of the decks that want Foil most of all. Not to tease too much but I go into more detail in my upcoming article on ChannelFireball, so be sure to check this out.
Assorted musings:
- Mono Green Tokens looks to be the real deal. I think there's a lot to be done with that deck.
- Tethmos High Priest is clearly a powerful card that is still looking for the best shell.
- I am interested in Rakdos Monarch as a counter to Dimir Delver. Terminate is an attractive spell if it resolves.
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